The signature crab king pot at the restaurant recently bagged the prestigious Black Pearl Dish award. — Fu Pot
Tucked atop the 13th floor of Kuala Lumpur’s TS Law Tower is Fu Pot. The eatery has a sophisticated sheen and unlike conventional restaurants, nearly the entirety of the sprawling space is bisected into eight distinct private rooms – to cater to as few as four guests and as many as 26.
The eatery is the brainchild of friends Rodney Ther, Raymond Ng, Iven Chua, Wilson Leong and Henry Lean, who spotted a gap in the market for premium hotpot.
“When we were thinking of opening a hotpot restaurant, it was during the hotpot boom in the Klang Valley – there were all those China-influenced hotpot restaurants around. So we were like ‘Hey, why don’t we do something different?’
“We wanted something that is evergreen, so we figured a Hong Kong-style hotpot restaurant would be best,” says Ther.
The restaurant has eight beautifully appointed private rooms. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
Since its inception in 2022, the restaurant has gone from strength to strength and recently received the ultimate acknowledgement in the form of a prestigious Black Pearl Dish award for its signature Crab King Pot.
The Black Pearl Restaurant Guide was founded in 2018 in Shanghai, China and has since expanded from China to Japan, Thailand, Singapore and now Malaysia. It honours brands that showcase outstanding quality, service, innovation and cultural significance.
“They (the judges) came to the restaurant and tasted the soup – we didn’t even know who they were. And then they nominated us for the award.
“Winning the award is a tremendous honour. It validates our mission to offer a high-quality, healthier Malaysian hotpot option in a luxurious setting,” says Ther.
The signature crab king pot at the restaurant recently bagged the prestigious Black Pearl Dish award. — Fu Pot
When the restaurant opened, the founders wanted an opulent experience that couldn’t be found elsewhere in Malaysia.
So they invested in a fishing boat owned by one of their families that makes its way through local waters off Sungai Besar in Selangor.
Every week, the fishing boat gives the restaurant its freshest catch, which is what is utilised to power and fuel the flavours and bounty of their signature Crab King Pot and serve fresh live seafood for diners looking to amp up their hotpot selections with aquatic ingredients like tiger prawns and leopard coral grouper.
The restaurant serves a range of 10 hotpot broths but you would do well to start with the ultimate indulgence in the form of the Crab King Pot (RM301.80).
The broth is a labour of love that started off as an heirloom recipe passed down from one of the founders. It has since evolved and taken on a life of its own.
The broth that forms the base of the crab king pot is fashioned out of pork bones and about 12 other ingredients that are cooked together for eight hours. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
The base of the soup is a pork bone broth made with pork bones and about 12 other ingredients and cooked for approximately eight hours. This is then topped with crabs, mussels, abalone, tiger prawns and sweet taro.
The broth is a soup-er trooper from the very first mouthful, yielding a natural purity that highlights both porcine and aquatic leanings, with a sweetness running through its veins.
It is a light soup with a rich, aromatic flavour profile and a slight hint of fire streaking through its core, courtesy of the chillies in its composition.
The seafood in the pot is plentiful and as you ladle the broth into your bowls, you’ll find oceanic treasures like dappled abalone slices, plump, voluptuous prawns and tufts of crab meat jostling for your affections.
It’s little wonder that this particular broth is award-winning because rest assured, it’s unlike anything you have tried anywhere else.
Some of the popular hotpot broth bases include the creamy chicken and fish maw (left) and rustic truffle mushroom. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
Another hotpot broth option to indulge in is the eatery’s second most popular variant – the Nourishing Chicken and Fish Maw Soup (RM118 for a half hotpot option). The broth arrives with pillowy, fluffy slices of fish maw to accentuate the meal.
On the palate, the soup is rich and luxuriant on the tongue with a creamy aftertaste, courtesy of the collagen-rich fish maw in its configuration. It’s a smooth, entirely satisfying operator and the fish maw adds a touch of decadence to the meal.
Another hotpot option for those looking for something a little off the beaten track is the Truffle Mushroom Soup (RM58 for a half hotpot option).
The soup is loaded with fresh mushrooms and drizzled with truffle oil for a final flourish. As a consequence, the broth is awash in rustic, woody notes and is the gastronomic equivalent of taking a walk through a fungi forest.
The eatery also has a range of bovine choices to amp up the hotpot base. Of what’s on offer, delight in the Fu Wagyu Beef Platter (RM388) which serves up three different kinds of beef slices including the Miyazaki A5 wagyu chuck rib, Miyazaki A5 wagyu gooseneck and the Australian wagyu premium cut M8/9.
The wagyu beef platter allows diners to sample premium wagyu in a hotpot setting. — Fu Pot
The Miyazaki A5 wagyu indicates the highest possible grade of marbling, meat colour, tenderness, quality and flavour from cattle raised in the Miyazaki prefecture in Japan.
Cook the meat briefly in the hotpot broth of your choice and savour it slowly.
The chuck rib is a melt-in-the-mouth winner with layered bovine undertones while the gooseneck is firmer with a beefier flavour profile.
The Australian wagyu meanwhile is tender yet yields a firm bite.
If you’re after something from the porcine persuasion, look at the Spanish Iberico Pork Slices (RM60 for a full portion).
Here, you’ll get slippery slices of meat that are incredibly tender and have nuanced, porky flavours engrained in the meat’s structural DNA.
The Iberico pork slices are tender and incredibly pliant. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
Most hotpot meals aren’t complete without a range of fish balls and meat balls to pop into the cauldron. At Fu Pot, these are made entirely in-house, something that Ther says the owners are very particular about.
“If you were to buy fish balls from the market or supermarket – it’s prefabricated and the texture is just not there. Our establishment is more high-end so if we are charging more, we want to make sure the quality carries through,” he says.
To truly get a taste of the restaurant’s handmade meatballs, order a serving of the Meatball Platter (RM60). Here, you’ll get to savour handmade mentaiko squid balls, pork and plum balls, squid ball, pork and mushroom balls and shrimp paste balls.
The meatballs are excellent – rotund and perky with a noticeable bounce, spring and yield. The balls are softer and more tender than commercial variants and so much more pleasurable on the palate, especially the pork and plum balls and the mentaiko squid balls.
All the meatballs at the restaurant are handmade and as a result, each one is a textural marvel. — Fu Pot
To complement a hotpot meal here, the restaurant serves a house-made dipping sauce that was created by the entire kitchen team and is called their “secret sauce”.
The sauce is made up of over seven different ingredients and is filled with coriander leaves, garlic and chillies with a prominent sesame undertone filling in the gaps.
It’s very fresh-tasting and yet has a great depth of flavours that makes it a willing accomplice to any hotpot broth of your choice.
Ther says since the restaurant opened, the founders have been inundated with requests to open elsewhere in the Klang Valley as well as in states like Johor. Which is why moving forward, there is a plan to open more outlets in shopping malls – with a twist.
“With Fu Pot, we have found a niche among people who want fresh, original evergreen flavours in a premium setting. So Fu Pot will remain as it is.
“But next year, we are planning to open halal hotpot outlets in a few shopping malls in KL,” he says.
